Helen Mirren receives Best Actress Olivier Award

Helen Mirren receives Best Actress Olivier Award

Dame Helen has been crowned Best Actress for playing the Queen in The Audience at the 2013 Olivier Awards at London’s Royal Opera House.

Helen Mirren receives Best Actress Olivier Award

She already has an Oscar and a Bafta award from the last time she portrayed the Queen. Now, six years on, the Dame has breathed new life into the role, adding Britain’s top theatre acting gong to her collection.

In her acceptance speech, Mirren referenced the Queen’s own recent honorary Bafta for her lifetime support of British film and television:

“The Queen has already won a Bafta this year, I think she’s going to be thrilled with an Olivier Award as well.”

“She deserves one for the most consistent and committed performance of the 20th century and probably the 21st,” the actor added.

Mirren has previously been nominated for the best actress Oliver three times before, including for her role in 1983’s Anthony and Cleopatra, but this was the first time she won.

Richard McCabe, who played Prime Minister Harold Wilson at the show and won best supporting actor, called the Dame “extraordinary”.

“She’s an absolute joy, she’s a truly great actress,” said McCabe.

“It’s important for an actor to be quite fearless and she is,” he added.

McCabe also divulged that members of the royal family had apparently attended the show in disguise.

The most successful play of the night was The Curious Incident of the Dog, taking out seven Olivier awards, including best new play and best actor for Luke Treadaway.